


Newton's New Nemesis

by Ferrety



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Cat, Drabble, Fluff, Gen, Hermann's nice hands, M/M, Newton is jealous of a cat that's it that's the fic, and i my dudes, i write homemade pringles, just u know some friday evening ramble, nothing of importance whatsoever happens in this one my dudes, some do homemade ratatouille, some people write complex meals high ends restaurant fics, some swearing I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:49:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26778397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ferrety/pseuds/Ferrety
Summary: The cat likes Hermann more than it likes Newton.Newton honestly thought that's what he'd resent it for.
Relationships: Newton Geiszler/Hermann Gottlieb
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	Newton's New Nemesis

**Author's Note:**

> I currently do not have the will to write anything long, complex, or like. Interesting lol but im still trying to get the habit kicking. I hope you enjoy this single pringle of a drabblefic.

Newton was, sadly, not surprised to find himself jealous of a cat. Disappointed? Sure! Vaguely ashamed? Ha! Try "absolutely mortified" one of these days. Ready to set himself on fire? Well, to be fair, Newton would probably set himself on fire for fun. He had, actually. Seven times before. But surprised? Nope. That was pretty regular-standard-definitely-on-brand behavior from him, and he had made his sad, resigned peace with it years ago.

Well, not about the cat situation. The cat situation was new.

The cat waspresently staring him down from all the way across the lab, purring smugly.

Little bastard.

Okay, so he probably needed to back up a little to explain the situation to the fake crowd he was making up in his head. The fake crowd who happened to be always cheering for him, especially when he was taking bad decisions. The imaginary people were probably confused.

The cat thing had actually begun a good while back. Newton could barely remember how it started, now. It was a whole two hours ago.

At least.

It was also kind of his fault.

Most of Newton's ailments were.

See, they were coming back from lunch with good ol' Herms (which Newton wasn't allowed to call "good ol' Herms" out loud), exchanging pleasant banter (shouting insults at each other about which fictional spaceship was cooler. Hermann, the huge nerd, thought it was the Battlestar Galactica.) when Frank, a J-tech Newton was on moderate speaking terms with, walked on them, looking completely panicked, and holding a-

"Dude! Is that a cat?" Newton exclaimed.

Frank looked at them with an air of absolute despair. His hands were scratched in several places, and the cat was clearly struggling to inflict some more.

"It's not mine!" he said, wincing as the furious beast kept hissing and trashing, "It's Kaito's. But, uh, Kaito's at the -OUCH- he's busy getting the bleeding stopped, and I need to..."

The cat wiggled even more, and finally broke free, to run straight at the two scientists.

"Catch it!" Frank wailed, and Newton, never one to think twice, threw himself bodily at the cat.

That turned out to be a mistake.

Somehow, the cat ended up in Hermann's arms.

And, for some reason, the little devil actually seemed happy about it.

"Kaito brought him in, you know, he needed to take him to the vet, so he, like, took him with his little cage, on his way out. But then, like, he wanted to show the lil boy to us, so he took him out, and we were, like, having a great time and all petting it and shit, but then..."

Frank sighed.

"Then that fucking aussie boy walks in with his damn dog, and, like, they weren't shitting us around when they said cats and dogs... What do they say about cats and dogs exactly? I forgot. Anyway, Kaito's got like, so many scratch wounds, and it's a mess right now, the dog bit a guy trying to catch the cat, it's like, a whole thing."

Hermann looked, a little bewildered, at the cat currently preening on his only available arm.

Newton, from his spot on the floor, glared at the beast.

And look. Newton prided himself on his success with animals. He was a biologis ! He wasn't only a friend of the animals. He was an _expert_ of the animals. The fact that this one had very clearly stated his dislike of Newton, with four different scratches on his arms (his goddamn _ink_ , did the thing have _no respect-_ ) was grating at him.

"Oh, well, we can keep it for you for a bit if you'd like. " he offered.

Surely a few minutes with it would be enough for Newton to befriend it and straighten his record again.

"We absolutely can _not_ , Newton-"

"Oh, that'd be a great help actually," Frank sighed. "I need to check on Kaito, he went to the hospital wing and everything, I'm pretty sure he missed his vet date. But, like, we got work to do, and anyway I can't take the cat with me, so, like-"

Hermann, looking very much like he was already nursing a headache, closed his eyes in a deep-set frown.

"Yes, yes. That's fine. Move along. We'll just keep an eye on it for a little while. Do fetch it before the end of the day."

"Oh, great, that's amazing. Like, that is so... Yes, I'm going now."

Frank bolted.

Newton squinted at the cat.

Hermann glared at Newton.

"Do get up, please."

"Aren't you going to at least offer to help me?"

"In case you haven't noticed, I am holding the cat at the moment."

The cat refused to even _consider_ coming towards Newton.

They took it back to the lab, and Hermann complained about that the entire time it took them to get there. He did not ask Newton to carry the cat, and the cat did not jump out of Hermann's half-embrace.

Hermann awkwardly set it on his desk, gave it strict instructions to "behave", as if that meant anything, and the cat slowly blinked at him, purring.

Then he got back to his equations, and Newton, from his side of the lab, was starting to be able to tell that he was going to spend the rest of the afternoon stewing in his own jealousy.

Only he thought he'd be jealous of _Hermann_ being able to befriend a living thing Newton could not (since when was Hermann the charismatic one? He hadn't even done a single thing to earn the cat's trust. He was just standing there, mildly ignoring it, and the cursed quadruped just decided that yes, he liked _that one_.)

Newton honestly didn't think he'd get jealous of the _cat._

See, the thing was. The thing was that Hermann had nice hands. Nice and large, kind of bony-looking, but sturdy. They did look surprisingly warm, too. That was just a fact of life Newton had long been aware of. They, uh, they featured, sometimes, in some lingering trains of thoughts that Newton pretended he didn't indulge in.

Point was. Hermann's hands were nothing new. Newton _knew_ about the hands, goddamnit. There were wat Hermann wrote with, what Hermann clutched his cane with, what Hermann could hypothetically put to some more, ah, experimental uses.

But now Newton could see them in _action_.

And well.

He wasn't _seething_ , per se, but...

Hermann distractedly pet the cat while he was staring in thought at his chalkboard, and the single-handed caress was so heavy the whole cat moved with it. The cat closed his eyes and purred louder, though, so it had to be nice. It _looked_ nice. Firm. Decisive. Nothing hesitant about the way Hermann was slowly, heavily petting that cat. His thumb slid under the cat's neck, and the damn thing looked overcome with bliss as Hermann idly scratched its chin.

Newton bit so hard on his pen that the plastic encasing broke and he tasted ink.

But this was _nothing_ compared to what Newton felt, one hour later, when Hermann seemed to reach some kind of breakthrough, did that little breathy noise that meant he had figured something out, and then turned towards the cat to pet it in celebration.

With _both_ hands.

Newton felt his jaw clench tightly enough to crack teeth.

Hermann was outright kneading the cat. Stroking it heavily, using one hand to raise it a bit and access its belly with the other one, pushing it around a little to pet it some more, grabbing at his fur to shake it and smiling dopily, almost closing his eyes in time with it. His eyes crinkled. His smile was warm and fond. And the cat was purring so loudly Newton swore he could feel it in feet. He evidently loved the rough handling Hermann was giving it, and Newton wanted to grab it by the scruff of its neck and throw it outside. Maybe demand the same treatment. He was hairy and chubby too, okay! Maybe Hermann could grab at some of _him!_ Maybe he could be the one getting covered in chalk marks (blue looked good on him, too, and unlike the cat, he wasn't going to lick it off later. He could lick other things off. But not chalk. Especially chalk marks left on his clothes. That'd be a hot reminder when he'd eventually need to get dressed again, though. He was losing his train of thoughts. It was leaving the station. It was gone. What the fuck was he thinking about again. Damn cat, purring like a bitch.)

_That_ was when he realized he was jealous of the cat.

With one last stroke at its puffy chest, Hermann went back to his thinking.  


The cat turned its head towards Newton, and blinked languidly at him.

_Oh no_ , Newton thought.  _I have a nemesis. A goddamn cat.  
_

That wasn't his coolest moment.

He feared it might not be his lowest yet, either.


End file.
